alt Hacker NewsI don't get it, if it's running on the same (mentioning "local") machine, why does it even need the S3 API? Could just be plain IO on the local drive(s)
Replies
(Author here) There are multiple web servers for redundancy (3 currently), and each needs access to all objects.
If the app was written using the S3 API, it would be much faster/cheaper to migrate to a local system the provides the same API. Switching to local IO would mean (probably) rewriting a lot of code.
seperate machine I think given the quoted point at the end:
> The costs have increased: renting an additional dedicated server costs more than storing ~100GB at a managed object storage service. But the improved performance and reliability are worth it.
The S3 API doesn't work like normal filesystem APIs.
Part of it is that it follows the object storage model, and part of it is just to lock people into AWS once they start working with it.
Or a simple SAN
The app was already built against the S3 API when it used cloud storage. Keeping that interface means the code doesn't change - you just point it at a local S3-compatible gateway instead of AWS/DO. Makes it trivial to switch back or move providers if needed.